For many coaches, the coaching binder is a record of years of experience. It might contain practice plans, drills, diagrams, notes from coaching clinics, athlete resources, and ideas you’ve collected along the way.
But over time, that binder can become difficult to manage. Pages get buried, resources become outdated, and finding the right drill can mean flipping through dozens of pages.
Moving your coaching resources to a digital app can make them easier to access and organize. But before you start uploading everything, take some time to decide what actually belongs in your digital coaching library.
1. Start With an Inventory
Go through your binder section by section and make a list of what you have.
You might find:
- Practice plans
- Drills and activities
- Skill-development exercises
- Game strategies
- Coaching notes
- Training schedules
- Diagrams
- Athlete resources
- Course materials
- Reference materials
Don’t worry about organizing everything perfectly yet. The first step is simply understanding what you’re working with.
2. Decide What to Keep
You probably don’t need to transfer every piece of paper.
Separate your resources into three simple groups:
Keep: Resources you regularly use or expect to use again.
Update: Useful resources that need changes or improvements.
Archive: Materials you want to keep for reference but don’t need regularly.
This is a good opportunity to get rid of duplicates and outdated information. Otherwise, you may end up replacing one cluttered binder with a cluttered digital library.
3. Organize Based on How You Coach
Here’s where digital organization can really make a difference.
Think about what you usually look for when you’re preparing a practice.
Do you search by age group? Skill? Difficulty? Training objective? Amount of time available?
Your digital library could be organized around categories such as:
- Age group
- Skill level
- Skill or objective
- Position
- Training type
- Difficulty
- Duration
- Equipment required
For example, instead of filing a drill under a single category called “Passing Drills,” you could identify it as:
Passing | Intermediate | U15 | 15 minutes | Skill Development
Now you have several ways to find it later.
4. Create a Simple Naming System
Digital libraries are much easier to navigate when resources have clear, consistent names.
Compare:
“Drill 4”
with:
“Passing Accuracy – Intermediate – 15 min”
The second name immediately tells you what you’re looking at.
Your naming system doesn’t have to be complicated. Just make sure it is consistent enough that you and other coaches can understand it at a glance.
5. Start With What You Use Most
You don’t have to digitize your entire binder in one weekend.
Start with the resources you reach for most often.
Your first batch might include:
- Your favorite drills
- Current practice plans
- Frequently used skill activities
- Resources for your current team
Once those are organized, you can gradually add the rest.
This approach means your digital library becomes useful immediately, rather than becoming another project that never gets finished.
Your Binder Is the Starting Point
Going digital isn’t about throwing away everything you’ve collected over the years.
Your binder represents your coaching experience. The goal is to turn that experience into a resource that’s easier to search, update, and reuse.
Before you start transferring anything, take the time to clean up, categorize, and prioritize.
Then you’re ready for the next step: turning those paper resources into useful digital content.
Next in the series is our Part 2
From Paper to App: How to Digitize Your Coaching Resources